As the World Turns Green
A recent seminar on green initiatives had some distributors and suppliers in the audience seeing red—and others, gray. The occasion was Indianapolis-based IBSA’s 2008 Conference, held July 21-23 at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis. While industry professionals certainly support the sourcing of fiber from well-managed forests, they are less than thrilled with the thousands of dollars associated with obtaining chain-of-custody (CoC) certification. Some wondered where the money was, in fact, ending up. Others complained end-users—the group driving certification in the first place—will frequently opt for non-certified stock after realizing it can increase costs. Still, others pointed out that projects printed on CoC-certified stock can ultimately be very eco-unfriendly, and that going green goes far beyond specifying stock.